Thrice Spills Some Noble Blood

Irvine, California's Thrice has its engine revved up to full throttle for "Blood On The Sand". Plenty of top quality drumming originating from Riley Breckenridge and that pays off in the form of huge dividends given the thinly veiled outrage found in the lyric sheet. Just one listen tells you how outraged lead vocalist Dustin Kensrue is. He hates the blood he sees in the street, the blood in the sand. Whatever will he do to avenge the carnage? For now outrage is all he can truly muster but how powerfully he lets it rip from his gullet. His voice demands satisfaction and damned if he isn't bound and determined to get it. Teppei Teranishi lays it down on guitar with mighty heavy licks that take few if any prisoners. Outrage can surely do that to you. Dustin is unafraid to unleash harsh universal truths into the atmosphere. "Fear will kill your mind and steal your love as sure as anything. Fear will rob you blind and make you numb to others suffering." Painfully true. Never has there been a better time than now then to let those opinions take flight. Panic still rules us whenever we see skin of a different color emerge. For a country steeped in learning and higher ideals, we're slow to pick up on our mistakes. Dustin calls us on the carpet for our transgressions and in our heart of hearts we've kinda come to deserve it. Exemplary bass work from Eddie Breckenridge. Cuts right to the meat of the matter. The pacing moves at a gallop clip, another asset for a song steeped in eight shades of indignation. The statement "I've had enough" certainly rings true for the 2016 political race. For better or worse that's why we have the epic battle of Trump vs. Clinton on our hands. You can feel the rage's heat drop you to your knees if you let it. The rage does clock in at a less than 3:00 duration. That can and should give us all space to break free from Dustin's toxic edge. Not that the venom isn't well placed. Here in the heart of Texas we do love our guns. Dustin out and out claims "there might as well be a gun in my hand." Dustin doesn't like how we justify every mess we're in with a smoothly orchestrated plan. He's sick of it all. As much as it smacks of righteous indignation shot through the roof, Dustin's point is well taken. Violence begets violence. When does the breaking point ever motivate us to step away from the curb? "Blood On The Sand" spills out over all of us and this message doesn't have a shelf life of any kind...all the more reason to take heed.